ManyCam the Ultimate Webcam Utility

ManyCam got its name from the ability to use a webcam with many webcam applications or websites simultaneously. For example ManyCam allows users to use Skype, Google Hangouts,and Facebook video chat simultaneously. Since its 1.0 release in 2006 ManyCam has added many more incredible features including amazing video and audio effects, text over video, broadcasting your desktop as a video source, broadcasting videos and photos, recording video to your desktop and saving photos, plus the ability to add the date and time to your video and much more.

ManyCam 4.0 has many exciting new professional quality video broadcasting features. ManyCam has now become a professional quality video switcher. Use ManyCam Pro to quickly switch between video sources including multiple webcams, your desktop, videos, photos, and broadcast your live video show to the world using any app or website!

ManyCam Pro features

ManyCam Pro widens your creative possibilities with some features that the free version doesn't have including the ability to create more presets and use more audio sources.

With ManyCam Pro you can:

Use all Pro Video effects from the ManyCam website in your ManyCam Pro app.

Create and save up to six video preset windows.

Modify your video presets in the preview mode before streaming live.

Use more than one microphone simultaneously.

Enjoy more transition effects that introduce smooth transitions while switching between different video presets.

Use more audio & equalizer effects.

Have unlimited video from remote third party IP cameras.

Create an unlimited number of albums in the Gallery tab.

Use all picture in picture modes.

Installation

Download the ManyCam installer and launch it. You will see the ManyCam Setup dialog where you can choose between the Standard or Custom installation. The “Standard” option is selected by default. Select “Custom” if you want to choose where to install ManyCam, what shortcuts to create, whether you would like to run ManyCam on startup and keep your video effects from previous versions. Make your choice, then click “I agree – install”. Setup will now extract the ManyCam files. After the setup is finished, click “Finish”. ManyCam is now installed and ready for use.

Tray Icon and Menu

When ManyCam is launched, it appears as a tray icon. If ManyCam is not active, the tray icon has a red rectangle in the bottom right corner. If ManyCam is used, the red rectangle is replaced with a green triangle.

Clicking on the tray icon will open the main ManyCam window (thus making ManyCam active).

Main ManyCam window

Clicking “ManyCam” in the top left corner of the main window opens the main ManyCam menu with the following options:

Hide/Show ManyCam — minimize the ManyCam window to tray.

Full Screen Broadcast — allows you to see your live output video in a separate full-screen window. For example, you can drag this window to another monitor and use it with a projector.

Getting started — opens a web page with lots of different useful “How-To” videos.

Settings — opens the ManyCam Settings window.

Help — the ManyCam Help page on the website.

About — shows the ManyCam version, copyright information and a shortcut to the manycam.com site.

Exit — closes the application.

Main Live window

The main live window is the largest window which shows the live streams. Also you can use up to six video presets (see Video Tab) allowing you to modify your video any way you want. The main window shows the output picture with all of the currently chosen effects.

By clicking on the window you can choose the output image: IP cameras, your desktop areas, media files or some blank images.

IP Cameras

Here you can select an IP camera as a ManyCam video source. By default, the list is empty until an IP camera URL or IP addresses are entered.

To add a new camera to the list, click the “Add IP Camera” button in the IP Cameras window and define a new IP camera in the dialog which will appear. The only mandatory field is “IP Camera URL” which is the actual address of the IP camera. The name is used only for your IP cameras list – you may write something like “My backyard” or “CentralPark”. Search Google for a list of available IP cameras on the web.

IP cameras can produce video streams in various formats. ManyCam can work only with Motion Jpeg (also known as mjpeg or mjpeg). Motion Jpeg is the most common format that every IP camera has available. Unfortunately IP camera owners sometimes do not enable the Motion Jpeg or MJPEG option to make ManyCam work. Be sure and enable MJPEG mode with your IP Camera and it should work fine with ManyCam.

YouTube Video Source

This feature allows you to stream YouTube videos in your main live window as an output video feed. Paste the YouTube Video URL in the field.

Blank Images

You can use a blank image as your video input source. You can choose the background color.

Snapshot / video clip

You can use a switcher to make a snapshot or a video clip. Choose and click this button to take a snapshot.

Choose and click this button to make a video clip.

Your snapshots and videos are saved in the Gallery Tab. There you have 2 albums “My snapshots” and “My recordings”.

ON AIR — this indicator notifies you whether ManyCam is used by any application at the moment. If some application is using ManyCam video, this indicator becomes green. You can view the list of all ManyCam clients by clicking the ON AIR button; Here you can also pause and resume video streaming.

The main ManyCam window contains 3 main tabs: Video/Effects/Gallery. Also there is a toolbox panel consisting of 7 tabs with different useful settings.

Image Tab

Here you have the settings for your main live window image.

Resolution — allows you to choose the output video resolution.

"Auto" mode is the most suitable mode for all video chat applications and online web chats. When «Auto» is turned on, ManyCam Virtual Webcam will generate the video stream with the most appropriate dimensions according to the client’s request. Client here stands for the application that uses ManyCam (e.g. YouTube, Skype, Chatroulette, etc).

In other words, YouTube always wants 640x360 (360p) video from ManyCam (and any other Webcam). If «Auto» mode is enabled ManyCam will output a 640x360 video stream as required by YouTube.

Even if the client will request some unusual format (e.g. 512x384) – ManyCam will handle this automatically and give the client exactly what it wants.

This mode is the most efficient for your CPU usage because ManyCam does not perform redundant scaling or effect processing on excessively high resolutions.

Custom (240/360/etc)

Setting a custom resolution will force ManyCam to produce a video stream with the exact dimensions you prefer. But you should understand that setting a 1080p resolution will never force any client to use it. E.g. Chatroulette always works with 176x144 and only Chatroulette developers can change this behavior.

Setting the resolution forcibly is useful in some cases:

Record video with the resolution you want

Take high quality snapshots

Otherwise, «Auto» resolution will be used for snapshots/recordings. By default, when nobody uses ManyCam Virtual Webcam, “Auto” is equal to 640x480.

When a specific resolution is set, ManyCam will forcibly offer that resolution to the video application. If the application doesn’t accept video in that resolution, ManyCam will switch to any acceptable resolution, given that it isn’t larger than the one you have chosen.

Zoom — Use the zoom slider to set the zoom level. When the image is zoomed you can move the image with the cursor to see its fragments.

Picture in Picture mode — allows you to use up to four picture sources in addition to the main picture. You can select a separate input source for these windows inside the main one. To do so, click the internal window and choose the input source the same way as you would for the main window. You can also move the small internal window around by Drag and Drop.

To deactivate the Picture in Picture function, click the button. Note that when you disable the Picture in Picture mode, the information about the smaller picture input source and its settings is lost.

Flip & Rotate — allows you to flip the image vertically or horizontally and rotate it.

Color — You can change brightness, contrast and color levels of the picture, or make it black-and-white.

Audio Tab

This tab allows you to choose the audio source, set up and partially control your audio output.

Add microphone — shows you the list of all microphones in the system.

If you have Windows Vista or higher, you should also see the “System sound” microphone in the list. This microphone captures all the sounds that are produced by your system.

With ManyCam you can use your microphone as an audio capture source for many applications and websites. You can apply various sound effects to your audio output. Choose one of the audio effects and make your audio output sound awesome!

Shuffle button enables/disables shuffle (if enabled, the playlist items are played in a random order).

Mute/Unmute button turns sound on or off.

Volume control slider adjusts audio volume.

Equalizer ( ) button allows you to choose the Equalizer mode.

Playlist Tab

You can make a playlist consisting of multiple video sources, video files and images. You can add media files, movies, desktop and blank images in a playlist.

You can specify a delay time for playlist items. The playback time is set to 30 seconds by default. You can set it from 3 seconds up to 5 minutes. Using playlist buttons you can play the elements in a random order or make your playlist loop.

Trans Tab

You can change the type and duration of the transition effect.

Text Tab

You can impose your text over the video stream. You can apply various options to the text and place it everywhere you like in the video window.

Type the text you would like to be shown in the field of the Text Tab and tick “Enable text”.

You can choose horizontal and vertical scrolling of the text, change your text appearance: font color, style, size and effects, background color and opacity. You can drag and drop the text around your video window to choose where it will be shown.

Draw Tab

Here you can draw over your video choosing a pen, brush, fill or eraser.

Weight — allows you to choose the brush thickness.

Custom Color — allows you to choose any color for your drawings.

Clear All — the button will clear your drawing.

Time Tab

You can impose current date and/or time over the video-picture. You can choose an analog clock and a digital one. You can also select the clock’s color and size.

Time format — you can select a 12-hour or a 24-hour format for your digital clock.

Date — you can select a date format or select “Do not show” to show time only.

Size — you can select the size of your clock.

Opacity — you can change the transparency of the clock.

You can drag and drop the clock around your video window to choose where it will be shown.

Video Tab

There are six small windows on the right side of the main live window. In this tab you can create and save up to six presets!

By clicking on this small window you can choose the image for this preset like: some area of your desktop, IP cameras, media files or some blank images.

Creating your own presets

ManyCam allows you to create and save up to six presets which you can stream into different applications.

If you see a green icon that says “live” in the top left corner of the preset window, it means the preset is streamed in the live mode in the listed applications that use ManyCam as a source and it is the same video source that is shown now in the main live window.

To preview a preset without streaming, click its top right corner and choose “Edit”. You will have the same image in these two windows: the main live window and the preset one. You will see “EDIT” in the top left corner of the preset window. To start streaming you should push the Trans button in the main live video window.

You can start streaming the modified preset by clicking either the Cut (instant transition) or Trans (smooth transition) buttons. You can change the type and duration of the Trans effect (see Trans Tab).

Effects Tab

This tab allows you to choose various video effects you want to apply. The effects folders are sorted by categories. You can apply different effects by clicking on them and remove chosen effects by clicking on the cross sign to the left of the effect's name in Selected list. Click the upper cross to delete all of the effects. There is also an eye icon which allows hiding the effect temporarily from the video feed.

The chosen effect appears in the current output picture and in the Selected list.

You can add your frequently used effects to the Favorites list for convenience.

You can add your own effects by clicking on to import a new effect from a file.

You can search the effects with the help of .

Selected — a list of currently selected effects.

Favorites — a list of chosen effects for easy access.

Categories

Filters — a set of filters to modify your picture.

Distortions — perspective distortions you can apply to your picture.

Backgrounds — you can place yourself in a background that differs from your real surroundings. When you select a background you would like to place yourself into, ManyCam will prompt you to take a snapshot of your current background without any moving objects in it. After clicking “Take Snapshot” you will be given 3 seconds to move out of the camera’s view before the snapshot is taken.

Objects — various funny pictures you can impose anywhere on your video.

Face Accessories — various effects that ManyCam can impose over your face using a built-in face detection function.

Emoticons — various funny pictures of smiles you can impose anywhere on your video.

Gallery Tab

Here you have albums with your saved snapshots and recordings. By default, there are two albums which cannot be deleted. You can create your own albums clicking on the cross sign .

When you open the album you can click on the cross sign to import a new media file.

You can easily share your snapshots and recordings to social networks!

Open the snapshot or the video recording you want to share and click in the top right corner.
Choose the social network you want to share with, leave a message if you want and click “Share”.

How-To

An internet page with lots of different useful “How-To” videos is available on our website. To visit it, please open ManyCam –> Getting started or click here. Get started by learning how to use ManyCam and all of our awesome video and audio features!